Emily Austin Smith – Cello

Cellist Emily Austin Smith has maintained an active teaching and performing career in Durham, North Carolina. She currently performs with the Durham Symphony, the Fayetteville Symphony, and the Duke New Music Ensemble, as a substitute with the North Carolina Symphony, and in various chamber music settings. She teaches a private studio of cello students both in her home and at High Strung School of Music in Durham, and works at the Durham nucleo of Kidznotes, an El Sistema inspired orchestral training program.

Emily has attended the Texas Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Encore School for Strings, Indiana University Summer String Academy, Kansas City String Quartet Program, and the Heartland Chamber Music Academy, where she appeared as a soloist with the chamber orchestra at the age of 14. While a student in Baltimore, Emily performed with the Occasional Symphony, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, and the Peabody Camerata, and was involved with Classical Revolution Baltimore and the Baltimore Symphony’s OrchKids program.

Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Emily completed her bachelor’s degrees in Cello Performance and English and her master’s degree in Cello Performance and Pedagogy at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, where she studied with Alan Stepansky, former Associate Principal Cellist of the New York Philharmonic. During her time at the Peabody Institute and the Johns Hopkins University, Emily was the recipient of the B&O Women’s Club Award in Performance and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society

To Educate. To Entertain. To Inspire.

The Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1956 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and is a professional, regional orchestra whose mission is to educate, entertain, and inspire the citizens of the Fayetteville, North Carolina region as the leading musical resource. Praised for its artistic excellence, the Symphony leads in the cultural and educational landscape for Fayetteville and the southeastern North Carolina region.

The Fayetteville Symphony typically performs 8 concerts during any given season performing both at Methodist University and Fayetteville State University. Partnerships with other agencies include collaborative performances with Cape Fear Regional Theatre, chamber concerts at St. John’s Episcopal Church, as well as the city’s annual Independence concert with fireworks. The Symphony brings music to the schools and the community by performing educational concerts, as well as having its own Fayetteville Symphony Youth Orchestra, after school strings and summer music camps.